Pins, pendants, and extended battery life are among Qualcomm’s recent focuses.
Qualcomm announced its Snapdragon Wear Elite chip, reflecting a belief in more AI wearables. The Elite is a “wrist plus” chip, not a replacement for but alongside the W5 Plus, targeting AI wearables like pendants, pins, and display-free glasses.
The Elite chip, upgraded to a 3nm process, integrates an eNPU for low-power AI tasks and a Hexagon NPU for more intensive compute tasks, handling two billion parameters on-device and up to 10 tokens per second.
Qualcomm improved power efficiency with the Elite chip, reducing GPS tracking power by 40%. The 9V quick charging offers a 50% charge in 10 minutes, and there’s a 30% increase in overall battery life, translating to “longer time between charges.”
With support for satellite connectivity, 5G, ultra-wide band, and Bluetooth 6.0, CPU performance has improved fivefold, and the GPU supports 1080p at 60fps. The Elite also supports Linux, aiding startups in AI pin or pendant development.
Qualcomm’s move indicates a continuing interest in AI wearables, with Google and Apple exploring similar territories.